What's Happened??

It's simple. People are selfish today.

 

People have convinced themselves that being a Christian is easy. I once visited an Indian couple who visited at our church. The gentleman told me that when he converted from Hindu to Christianity his life was literally in danger, not only in India but also in Thailand where they moved originally. He said his faith had weakened after coming to the U.S. because what he had done was not only acceptable but admired.

By calling ourselves a "Christian nation" and blurring out the distinction between the world and the church we have become lukewarm and you know what the Bible says about that. This is why I'm so much in favor of the separation of Church and State.

 

Think about the Pharasees. According to our biblical accounts, they had all the right doctrines. They accepted the whole bible, and not just the first five books. They believed in tithing and they tithed. They believed in prayers and they prayed. They believed in the resurrection of the just.

Yet Jesus condemned them.

Its not about correct doctrine, folks, its not about believing the Bible, folks, there's something else that matters.

(Please don't consider this a call to have false doctrine or give up the Bible. . . )

Something the Pharasees missed.

Something the gentlemen who started this thread says he misses in our churches.

Something that made men walk away from their fishing nets and start following Jesus

Something that made people stare at Peter and the disciples and try to figure out what was happening in human terms like accusing them of having to much wine

Something that is not of this world

 

It's people like you brother. People that have put down the word and walked away. Allowing the harvest to rot because you won't work the fields. Christianity is a living faith. If it seems afar off and it's senses dull to you, it is because you are on the outside looking in. All you have is your memory and knowledge that it was good.

Christianity is alive and well but under constant attack. Join us if you will. But don't ask us where the faith and commitment is. Go back where you left yours and pick up your cross and follow Jesus again. Join the battle but don't waste our time!

 

As I have lived across the nation I see Christians who are thriving and areas where the chruches may have numbers but little life. It is all there.

Over 30 years ago where I went to high school the churches were basically dead. Today that same area is doing quite the opposite. Where I went to college some churches are dying while others are being planted and exploding. I believe it has everything to do with evangelism and discipleship.

 

and it IS easy to be a Christian here in America.

I mean, during Paul's time, and the other apostles' time, there was real persecution of Christians. NOt just calling names, and a slow gradual attempt by some political liberals to take away our rights, BUT any meeting of Christians could and would be raided and all were sent to jail and put to death!

That sort of persecution tends to grow people's faith, making them rely on God for their very existence, learning to witness for Christ despite the fact that you could be executed for it.....

Today we are apathetic in our country. That doesn't mean we aren't really saved, but it might indeed mean we are weaker in some areas.

Then again, if real persecution came, than God's grace would be there for us just like it was for those early Christians.

 

It's not easy to be a Christian, not really. Not anywhere. It only seems easy in America because of all the churches and the religious veneer.

But to really be a Christ-follower is still to be called out and different. And different is always hard because we always do want to be accepted and liked by lots of people.

The difficulty in America is not to claim the name of Christian (this is the first difficulty in many other places), but to actually BE one. To be serious about following Christ. To be serious about holding the line where ethics and morality are concerned. To actually pay your full amount of taxes in faith that God will still provide for you. To refuse to partake in activities which are dishonoring to God, while remaining kind and loving towards those who do partake. To refuse to defend yourself but be willing to be hurt, one way or another, defending others. To be willing to be occasionally exhausted by caring for others. To spend time with the Lord daily, not just talking to Him but quietly listening for direction from Him. To know your Bible better than you know the comics in the Sunday papers, or the sports news, or the political commentaries.

To be willing to trust, no matter what happens, and calmly go on doing what you know is right in the eyes of the Lord.

America is a land of compromises. This makes being a true follower of Christ much harder than is generally recognized.

In the meantime, the churches are concentrating on evangelism with an eye to church growth and almost no one is concerned with building up the body of Christ. So sermons are milk, and meat is missing, leaving a weak and spineless group of listeners to fumble their way through the weeks, and thus finding themselves listening to world advice and either ignoring or not knowing God's Word on the same subjects right in their dusty Bibles.

It's sort of like an old, worldly marriage, where one of the partners looks for something new and exciting outside of the marriage. Many, many Christians, who are supposed to be part of the Bride of Christ, are committing adultery with other beliefs and competing faiths, and then trying to reconcile them to the Bible using titles like 'post-modernism' and 'theistic evolution' and 'liberal interpretation.'

Just watch the reactions of some to this post and then see if it is not sometimes a little hard to 'stand up for Jesus.'

 

I think I know what you mean but your statement is not always true.

Those who are living for Christ will have plenty of trouble if God is using them.

In college I was unable to get my master's thesis through because many in the department were Mormons.

Some in a church I pastored did not like me as their pastor because I was stirring up their nice little community and people were coming to Christ while the church was experiencing tremendous growth. They didn't like it that their little church was not so little anymore and needed a larger parking lot and new building. It wasn't so easy when I stood against the deacons putting money in the BFA and then a few months later the BFA lost almost all of its money. They didn't like it one Sunday when I asked one of the deacons about the numbers in church and he told me they needed to add some numbers so it wouldn't look like they were going down. The fact was he had been adding numbers for a long time before I came. I told him we were going to be honest and not do that any more. Within a few weeks the numbers were out of the ball park compared to what they were a year earlier anyway.

Most any pastor or Christian worker has had their share of troubles if they are living for Christ and making Him known.

 

Right, Im not claiming that being a TRUE Christian is easy.........so of course I'd not argue with either Helen or gb on this.

Just that its easy to CLAIM the name of Christianity.

 

There is no excuse for that kind of behavior as a Christian. The apathy could be erased by making disciples. But that takes time and investing our lives in the lives of others. That involves praying for them.

 

james,

this is still possible. I was taking you as being much more cynical, which is why I responded with my first post.

but are you instead discouraged? You see around you a whole lot of people who also have no fire, because thats where you've placed yourself. There will be areas like that, of course. Find yourself some friends who ARE on fire for God. They're still around!

are you sort of wondering if you are even really saved? sounded once like you said something like that. Its ok to go back and look over your salvation and compare it to what the Bible says. Be sure, God wants you to KNOW for sure that you are saved.

Then get back into your Bible, get back into praying, and put yourself in a place where others are eager to live for and serve Christ, and you will see that that fire returns. Ask God for it.

 

james, I wasn't trying to imply that it was "easy."

But whats holding you back? It isn't the "rest of the Christian world" because you don't and can't know the entirety of the Christian world.

So whats stopping you from doing what you know you need to do?

Perhaps it is just that you need to stop worrying about what the other Christians are or are not doing.

 

I think the reason you got so many responses like you did, then, was because theres about as many answers to that as there are Christians.

Remember too, zeal and commitment can be displayed in a very quiet manner. Sometimes the steady, faithful Sunday School teacher or church layman who has been around for 40 or 50 years has a commitment beyond what we first realize from just looking on the outside.

I don't know if what you are looking for is the "flashy" zeal, the kind that makes the person go running around shouting, but not everyone displays their zeal and commitment that way.